Page 51 of The Eagle's Vault

Before it was all the way to my ear, she snapped out, “Get Leigh back to the hotel. Now.”

Her words hit like a punch. Scarlett was always measured, her emotions as calculated as the plans she crafted. When she saidhurry, she damn well meant it.

“Keep your profiles low,” she added, her level of urgency sending a chill down my spine. “Fast as possible, Dec.”

My heart pounded in my chest, a drumbeat of panic. My mind raced with possibilities, but quickly landed on one. “You recognize the guy, don’t you?”

We waved to the shopkeeper as we neared the back and the sign for the bathroom. Her well-painted lips provided a broad smile. Jayce knew her hiding spots.

“What’s going on, Dec?” Jayce asked from ahead of me.

“Scarlett,” I hissed, keeping myself to a bare whisper. “Who is it?”

Leigh looked over her shoulder at me, almost stumbling as I pushed her forward.

“Keep your head down. Act natural.”

Jayce snorted, a sharp sound that broke the tense silence. “Yeah, because nothing screams ‘natural’ like ducking your head and looking terrified.”

Despite her jokes, Jayce was alert, ready for action.

“We’ll be fine, Leigh,” I said, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. “Just stick with us.”

The words sounded hollow in my own ears, but they were the best I could offer.

Scarlett made a quiet noise, as though expressing her irritation. “We’ve just figured out who owned the box we took the notebook from.”

“And?”

“Giovanni Ferraro.”

My blood turned to ice. “The antiquities smuggler?”

“He’s retired,” Scarlett said. “But still very influential. And the man you snapped a photo of is his head of security.”

Fuck me. “How did they figure it out so quickly? Didn’t Brie hijack the camera feeds? How do they even know the notebook’s gone?”

Jayce hit the rear door, opening into the bright sun on another pedestrian street. She glanced at her phone and pointed to the left. “We can grab a taxi in that direction. Five minutes, quick march.”

The goon was nowhere to be seen, no one else giving me the heebie-jeebies. All the same, I said, “Let’s make that three.”

Scarlett said, “No more excursions. Switch cabs at least two times, and walk some distance between them.”

“I know what I’m doing, Scar.” But did I? I’d let Jayce talk me into this crazy adventure. If we’d limited it to the catacombs, Ferraro’s man wouldn’t be on our tail. “The guard didn’t see our faces.”

“It had to be Edoardo,” Scarlett said.

No. There was no way. He wouldn’t have set us up and then sold us out.

The truth dawned on me, but I kept it to myself. Leigh didn’t need more to worry about. The guarddidsee our faces. He was the one working when Edoardo brought us into Cassaforte the first time.

My stomach churned. Not for myself or for Jayce—we were used to running—but for the innocent woman next to me. I had to keep her safe.

Chapter 20

Leigh

Islumpedintoaplush hotel chair, staring out the tall window at the building across the street. More ochre stucco. Everywhere. A stack of tourist brochures littered the desk next to me. I was supposed to be on the adventure of a lifetime. Instead, I was a player in some twisted cloak-and-dagger escapade that was scaring the shit out of me.

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